Brent Walton is a well known ex Cardiff Devils forward who spent two seasons with the Devils from 2014 to 2016. During his time with the Devils, Walton lifted the 2015 Challenge cup title along with the 2016 Erhardt conference title. Walton played over 80 times for the Devils but suffered with a bad knee injury which kept him out for most of the 2015/2016 campaign. After his time in the EIHL, Walton went onto play 4 seasons for the Ripley Wolves of Canada where he played 25 times. Throughout his impressive career, the Canadian has played in leagues such as the AHL, Germany 2 and the Metal Ligaen (Denmark). During his time in Europe, Walton became a serial winner. After lifting titles in both Germany and Denmark, he had a big taste for silverware which he was desperate to add to in Cardiff. Since retirement, Walton has been running a successful podcast where he has had special guests such as Kevin Tansey, Mac Carruth and Evan Mosey feature.The 2 Ales and Hockey Tales podcast has had around 400 episodes with many of them featuring ex or current EIHL players.
After leaving the Devils, Walton has kept a keen eye on the Elite League and especially the Cardiff franchise. When asked who on the Devils roster for the 2024/2025 season impresses him the most, he came up with multiple names. However, Walton couldn’t speak any higher of defenceman Gleason Fournier. Walton described Fournier as one of, “the best defencemen in the EIHL era.” This is a comment that is very understandable, Fournier has scored 203 points in his 270 EIHL appearances. Not only does he bring this to his game but Walton believes that with newfound experience in Europe, Fournier will be a “game changer,” for the Devils. Walton also touched on new signing Zach O’Brien. Walton described the Canadian as being a,”Huge Asset.” Although he doesn’t know much about him, Walton has only heard great things about O’Brien and is expecting the Growlers legend to bring a lot to the league and for Pete Russell.
With all of these great players, Walton also believes that the Cardiff Devils will be crowned EIHL champions come April. With lots of his ‘shed guys’ being already signed up for the 2024/2025 season, Walton is dead certain that there will only be one winner of this season's EIHL title. It will not be easy for the Devils though as they will have to shrug off competition from Sheffield and Belfast to get to the treasured top spot. A position they haven’t held since 2018. Since 2018, there have only been 2 winners of the EIHL with the Giants taking the prize home three times in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The Steelers also won the 2024 title ending the Giants histrionic run.
This also has been picked up by Walton as when asked what he makes of the competitiveness of the Elite League, he said,” that money talks and it is the same across Europe.” This is a key point made by Walton as money has a big impact on winning or not. In the Elite League, we have a big distance between the most valuable club to the least valuable and that impacts the on ice product. Most nights, teams like the Giants and Steelers can field a full roster made up of full time players and a full 15 imports. Whereas other teams like the Flyers and Stars are not able to do that night in and night out. Regardless of whether teams may break a cap or not, this is still a big issue for the league that can’t be resolved just by making teams stick to a salary cap. Walton also told a small anecdote about his time in Cardiff. He said during the 2014/2015 campaign, it was very enjoyable to battle for the league and win the Challenge Cup with a smaller budget. Stories like this have been seen all over the league as in the 2022/2023 season, the Guildford Flames pushed all the way to the end for EIHL glory but just missed out to the Giants. Similarly, that same season, the Fife Flyers made it to the Challenge Cup final where they overcame the Sheffield Steelers to reach the gold medal game. However, the Flyers were no match for the Giants and they also took home that title.
During his career, Walton has played in some fantastic buildings over his time in North America and Europe. However, in his eyes nothing compares to Cardiff’s Big Blue Tent. The historic arena was home to the Devils before the construction of the Vindico Arena (formerly Ice Arena Wales). Walton said that the building was fantastic to play in especially when packed full of Devils fans who are loyal and loud.
Walton’s first taste of success in the UK was the 2015 Challenge Cup Final between the Steelers and Devils. The game saw Cardiff take home the title with a 2-1 win. The atmosphere of that game is one of the highlights of Walton’s career. Although played at Sheffield, the Utilita Arena was split 50/50 fans with the ‘Orange Army’ being behind the benches and the Devils faithful being on the penalty box side. This was described as a huge advantage by Walton as the Devils fans could be seen by the players sitting on the bench. Walton said it made it“feel like a home game.”
As a smaller league, the EIHL is often overlooked by fans and players of other nations. Walton doesn’t know why this is the case as he described his time in the EIHL as, “the funnest league I’ve played in.” Despite playing in the AHL and other top European leagues. This is due to the family feel of the Devils as he really enjoyed being able to take his two young children onto the ice after games and make lifelong memories with them. Another reason as to why Walton loved the EIHL so much is the people around him. Walton said,” I played with the best people.” Over the course of his two year stay in Cardiff, Walton shared a locker room with EIHL stars such as Joey Martin, Tyson Marsh and Andrew Lord. These three EIHL legends all dedicated multiple years of their careers to the Devils with Andrew Lord later coaching the team. This is also a place that Walton says he wishes he got to spend more time at the Devils under Todd Kelman’s leadership.
Even though he understands that before Kelman the Devils were not like they are now, he still believes that his career path led him to Cardiff at the correct time.
The main problem of Walton’s career was definitely his knee injury. If he did not get severely injured, Walton would have liked to have been a part of the Devils success in the years after that. In the 2016/2017 season, which was the first without Walton, the Devils lifted both the League and Challenge Cup but narrowly missed out on the Playoffs after Levi Nelson scored a double overtime winner to win the game 6-5 for the Steelers.
Since finishing his full time hockey career in 2016, Walton has been able to thank the sport for his next career steps. Not only does he run the very successful 2 Ales and Hockey Tales podcast, but Hockey has also given him key life skills such as working in team environments and fitting your role along with other academic skills such as his MBA which he completed whilst playing in Cardiff. Walton also has thanked hockey for giving him “everything”. By playing hockey, Walton was able to make connections which later got him his first job. The same job that he has spent nine years and counting at. This shows the powerful connections that can be made through sport, not just Hockey and how it can set you up for the future.
Walton was an incredible player in the EIHL and one that we all wish could have been around for a bit longer in the league. His incredible offensive game was a standout in the league. Walton has had a very good career and we thank him for giving up his time talking to us at EIHL News Central.
We also want to wish Brent all the best with his past endeavours and recommend it to all EIHL and hockey fans.
Author of Article: Will Harris
Editor: Calan Yule
Proofread By: Calan Yule
© EIHL News Central
Listen to the 2 Ales and Hockey Tales podcast here: https://spotify.link/yjsUPuKekKb
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